Darlington TV Ratings: May 17, 2020 (NASCAR Cup Series)

NASCAR tv viewership saw pure domination as the sport returned to action Sunday

After 71 days, the NASCAR Cup Series returned to action. Darlington Raceway in South Carolina hosted the return of the sport on the 1.366-mile oval.

View Darlington tv viewership numbers below.

Stock car racing is one of the first sporting sanctions to return to action. They have returned without fans in the grandstands for TV only events.

Naturally, NASCAR dominated the TV on Sunday. Kevin Harvick drove it to victory lane as the country tuned in to watch stock car racing.

Related: Darlington Race Results – May 17, 2020 (NASCAR Cup Series)

Sunday’s race at Darlington Raceway was the most-watched sporting event since the Daytona 500 back in February. The Daytona 500 saw 10+ million viewers before the race was pushed to Monday, due to rain.

Sunday’s Darlington event was also the most-watched non-Daytona event since Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2017.

The race week is hardly over. Tonight, the NASCAR Xfinity Series takes to the track at Darlington to restart their season. On Wednesday, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Darlington once again, for a Wednesday night showing.

Related: Darlington Starting Lineup – May 20, 2020 (NASCAR Cup Series)

Darlington Raceway: TV Viewers

6.323 million people tuned in to watch the restart of the 2020 NASCAR season. 3.7% of the country who were watching television, elected to watch the race.

But, there’s a lot of interesting data to go with that. The world has changed drastically since the previous NASCAR event. The tv data has seen a twist as well.

Huge increase in larger cities

The larger your city is, the more you’re staying at home. The higher the population, the more you’re spending time in your living rooms instead of outside with the general public.

As a direct result, in the largest cities, NASCAR saw the biggest increase in viewers on Sunday. The following compares viewers of the Phoenix race back in March versus the race at Darlington on Sunday.

City | Increase over Phoenix Race
Los Angeles: +150%
San Francisco: +130%
Chicago: +127%
Phoenix: +112%

Most watched NASCAR cities

Of all the people tuned into the tv in Greensboro, North Carolina, 9.5% of them were tuned in to watch the return of NASCAR.

Top 5 cities | Share
1. Greensboro, NC (9.5 share)
2. Charlotte, NC (9.1 share)
3. Indianapolis, IN (8.9 share)
4. Nashville, TN (6.7 share)
5. Jacksonville, FL (6.4 share)

The data above was shared by Adam Stern.


2020 NASCAR tv ratings

Below are the NASCAR TV viewership numbers and share ratings for every race in 2020 so far:

May 17, 2020
Darlington Raceway
NASCAR Cup Series

Rating: 3.7 rating
Viewers: 6.323M
Network: FOX

March 11, 2020
Phoenix Raceway
NASCAR Cup Series

Rating: 2.72 rating
Viewers: 4.575M
Network: FOX

March 1, 2020
Auto Club Speedway
NASCAR Cup Series

Rating: 2.90
Viewers: 4.781M
Network: FOX

February 26, 2020
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
NASCAR Cup Series

Rating: 3.24
Viewers: 5.5M
Network: FOX

February 16, 2020
Daytona International Speedway
NASCAR Cup Series

Daytona 500
Rating: 6.26
Viewers: 10.943M
Network: FOX

February 17, 2020 (Rain)
Rating: 4.19
Viewers: 7.026M
Network: FOX

February 13, 2020
Daytona International Speedway
NASCAR Cup Series

Daytona Duels
Rating: 0.94
Viewers: 1.544M
Network: FS1

February 9, 2020
Daytona International Speedway
NASCAR Cup Series

Busch Clash
Rating: 1.51
Viewers: 2.455M
Network: FS1

February 9, 2020
Daytona International Speedway
NASCAR Cup Series

Daytona 500 Qualifying
Rating: 1.09
Viewers: 1.663M
Network: FOX

Related: iRacing eNASCAR Pro Invitational TV Ratings

Links

NASCAR | Darlington Raceway

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